Life
by The Darklight Angel
Summary: Pre-Revenge. Maria makes an offer to Rayne, which leads to revelations both heartbreaking and enlightening.


Life

Another AQ fic from me. I'm sorry that I haven't updated my other AQ fanfics (mainly Revenge) in a while. I had part of the next chapter of Revenge typed out and saved on my USB drive, but I misplaced it. So, here's something to sate you all while I retype the chapter. It's a one shot, and I haven't been able to get the idea of it out of my head. You could kinda consider it a prologue to Revenge.

Disclaimer – I own Rayne. Xenolord owns Maria. All the rest belong to neither of us.

* * *

"Maria?"

A familiar voice called out to the woman.

Maria cocked her head as she heard it. A small smile appeared on her lips, and she turned around. "Well well, look who's out tonight. Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Isn't it yours?" The woman who she was talking to countered, a smirk playing along her lips as well.

Maria grinned and spread her arms out wide. "Oh come on now Rayne. This is the time of day where I thrive, when I almost become alive again! I'm a vampire, after all."

"Well," Rayne snorted, "You're not a very good one, considering you're always out during the day. "

Maria scowled.

"I resent that." She muttered, dropping her hands back to her sides and shoving them into her pockets while staring mock-angrily down at the ground.

"Well would you look at that." Rayne teased, "The great Maria Despair reduced to pouting like a toddler at a snarky comment. Where are the great retorts I've heard so much about?"

"I don't have to waste them on you, Anasi."Maria growled, a twinkle in her eye and the start of a smile on her lips betraying her harsh tone.

"You've hurt my feelings, Maria." Rayne said, shaking her head and placing a hand over her heart, trying and failing at forcing back a smile.

If someone were to hear Rayne and Maria speak, they would have thought that they weren't on good terms at all, that they hated each other, when really, it was the opposite. They were good friends and this kind of banter was normal for them. It was their version of greetings.

"What are you doing anyways, Rayne?" Maria asked, after sharing a brief laugh with her shorter friend. "Isn't the majority of Battleon – including you- about to have dinner?"

"I I think Lizzie and Kay are planning something. So they kicked me out." Rayne said. "What about you?" She asked.

"Safiria's gone to Darkovia, and she took Gale with her." Maria shrugged. "They'll be back in the morning."

"Well, if that's the case..." Rayne (dressed normally and out of her armour) reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small sack. She jostled it, letting the gold coins inside clink against each other. "Do you want to have dinner with me?"

"Well, since you're offering..."

"You're paying half."

"Damn it."

* * *

"Someone is packing it down." Maria commented with an amused smile and an arched eyebrow as she watched Rayne chow down on her food.

"Well," Rayne answered after swallowing, "I haven't eaten much today- I missed my lunch because of a mission I was sent on. Plus, I'm a growing girl!"

"Actually, I'm not so much with the growing anymore." She added in as an afterthought.

After a pregnant pause, Rayne sensed that something was wrong. The tone of their dinner had been light-hearted and warm, filled with chatter and teasing in between bites of each of their meal. Now there was...hesitance. Looking up from her plate, Rayne could see it clearly now. Maria's smile had faded and her eyes were downcast. Maria had joked about Rayne's appetite, but the younger Despair sibling usually ate like that too. To see her playing with her food, Rayne now knew for sure that there was something that she wanted to say.

"Maria?" Rayne asked gently, breaking her friend out of the trance she seemingly had fallen into. "Is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" Maria looked at Rayne. "No, there's nothing..."

"Are you sure?" Rayne probed. "If there is, you know you can tell me. I'm your friend, after all."

Maria put down her fork, very slowly. She looked down at the table again, not quite meeting Rayne's eyes. "Rayne...Exactly how old are you, now?"

"I turned thirty earlier in the year..." Rayne cocked her head looking quizzically at the other woman. "Trip, Lizzie, and Aria are turning thirty this year too. Why do you want to know?"

"Yet you're still in top form, and look just as you did years ago." Maria mumbled, not answering Rayne's question. "You're still a Guardian- the best of the best in all of Lore. Only the fastest, swiftest, strongest, and sharpest can join the Guardians."

"Yes..." Rayne nodded, looking more and more confused as Maria continued on. "But...Why are you telling-"

"Maria's head had been down the whole time, and her eyes were downcast too. But before Rayne could finish her sentence, her head shot up, and she looked Rayne right in the eye.

"Do you want to be turned?"

"Turned?" Rayne asked, bemused. "What do you mean by turn..."

She trailed off, as Maria shifted in her seat. She was clearly nervous about this- and Maria was never nervous. She squirmed a little more, and bit her lower lip. The Guardian watched Maria slowly chew on her mouth. As she did, Rayne finally caught sight of a pointed, elongated canine, and everything snapped into place.

"Oh."

"I know it's a lot to think about." Maria said quickly. "But I'm not asking for an immediate answer. I'm just asking that you take your time and think about it-"

"Maria." Rayne said.

Maria didn't notice. "-Of course I have to ask the others as well-"

"Maria."

"-can't do it without their consent and all, but-"

"**Maria." **

That shut the Maria up. Rayne didn't yell, she didn't even raise her voice. The force she put into her voice made screaming unnecessary. There was silence between them, and Maria tried to ask her through a look, but the younger woman wouldn't look at her directly; she just stared off to the side.

"Rayne?" Maria asked, unable to take the silence anymore.

Rayne didn't respond immediately, and Maria never thought she was going to get an answer, until Rayne spoke up again, still not looking at Maria. "Why did you ask if I wanted to be turned?"

"Well..." Maria was baffled by this; she thought that the answer to this was rather obvious. "You're in your top form, right now. Don't you want to preserve that?"

"There's more to why you asked than my health, Maria." Rayne smiled half-heartedly. Maria rolled her eyes, but continued on.

"Well...think about it, Rayne!" Maria smiled. "Think about this; what will happen, hundreds, _thousands _of years from now? What will happen to Lore? It might be completely revolutionized- doesn't it make 

you wonder?" Her eyes sparkled, and she pressed her hands flat on the surface of the table, leaning in closer. "Doesn't it make you curious?"

Rayne's face was a stoic mask, and her eyes were unreadable. Her voice was careful, but still kind. "Maria... what do you look forward to the most in the future?"

Maria was baffled by the question. Why was Rayne asking her this? She wasn't sure, but she knew that somehow, it all had to with her friend's answer.

"Well... the future itself!" She said. "What does it hold? What will happen? I want to know, Rayne. I look forward to seeing with my own eyes; I look forward to doing things that we can't even dream of now!"

Rayne nodded, before bringing up another question. She asked more and more and more, not saying what she thought, while Maria became more and more confused.

Finally, Rayne asked one last question.

"What makes these things in the future so appealing?"

"Well- They're..." Maria was frustrated. What was the point of all the questions? She knew they held some relevance to this conversation, and that they all weighed in on Rayne's response, but this was getting ridiculous, and each question was becoming harder to answer.

"The fact they're unknown!" She near yelled. Before this question, she had thought over each of her answers carefully before telling Rayne them, but now, she was just blurting out what was on her mind, just wanting to get these questions, this almost interrogation over and done with. Her patience had held out right until then.

"The fact that I _don't _know if they'll be enjoyable or if they'll hurt us all, the fact that I _don't know _whether they'll make us laugh or make us cry the fact that I _don't know_ if they'll change our lives for the good, or the better! All I know, is that I want to be able to experience that with Safiria, and you and all our other friends-"

Maria stopped, seeing how Rayne, cool, collected and composed, had stiffened up uncomfortably at her last word. She paused, her frustration disappearing as she thought about what she had just stated.

Crimson eyes widened and her mouth went dry.

"Rayne... do you mean..."

Rayne closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath.

"Maria." The Guardian stated emotionlessly, still looking off to the side. "I'm going to have to decline your offer."

If Maria's heart had not already stopped beating years ago, the words coming out of the woman's mouth would have done it.

"But...but..." She spluttered. Her mind, though sharp as a tack, still had yet to fully grasp the meaning of the words. She couldn't form a proper sentence; the shock was too much.

Rayne leaped out of her seat, hurrying to her friend. "Breathe, Maria, breathe." She murmured, rubbing the older woman on the back soothingly. Maria had to force herself not to flinch away.

Only after she regained her composure, did she turn to face Rayne again.

"Why?" She asked, her voice but a ragged whisper.

Rayne, looking at Maria, stiffened and turned away yet again, not meeting the woman's eyes. She sighed heavily. "Maria...you don't get it."

"Of course I don't get it!" Maria yelled. "Why Rayne?"

"Think about it!" She cried. "Your health, your looks, preserved! Don't you want that? Don't you want to see the future? Don't you want to be able to stay with Lizzie and the rest of your friends forever?"

"That's just it, Maria. That's what you want" The dark haired woman mumbled.

"But... Rayne!" Maria exclaimed once more. She wasn't giving up on an explanation; she still didn't understand, and she wouldn't rest until she did. "Hundreds of years from now-"

"Hundreds of years from now is exactly _what _I fear, Maria." Rayne said. She raised her head, and finally looked Maria in the eyes; in them, Maria could see many conflicting emotions.

"I don't think that hundreds of years from now, I could handle it. Seeing everything changed; recalling all those people, with barely any clarity."

"Maria." She murmured, taking the vampiress' hand in her own. "I have seen many things in this world. But there's one place that I haven't seen; a place where there's no more fighting. No more worrying if every fight will be my last, wondering if I'll ever see Lizzie again during a war. No more pain, no more hurt, no more suffering."

"I'm not strong like you, Maria." Rayne said softly. "I'm not as strong as you. I want to go to that place one day, in the future."

"Please try and understand." Rayne mumbled. Maria could see pain in her eyes; it hit Maria then, just how much it was hurting Rayne to tell her this.

It wasn't that she didn't want to spend forever with her friends and family; it was that Rayne didn't want to live forever.

And while it hurt Maria, she knew that she had to learn to understand. This was what Rayne wanted, and what Rayne chose. There was no point in trying to change her mind; all Maria could do now, was make sure that Rayne would live as long a life as possible.

* * *

"Maria?"

Maria turned around, a small smile plastered on her face. "Well, this seems awfully familiar."

Indeed it was; they stood exactly where they had met the night before. The only difference was, was that it was now morning, almost noon, and not dusk, and Maria was wearing armour now.

"Oh hush you." Rayne said, waving her off. "Anyways... I was wondering, would you like to go get some lunch with me?"

"I'd love to Rayne, but..." She smiled sheepishly. "Artix asked me to do a favour for him. And a Guardian's work, even a retired Guardian, is never done."

Rayne would usually always have a snarky, yet humorous comeback, but this time she remained silent.

She nodded, a small, sad smile on her lips. In her eyes, there was an unreadable look.

"I understand." She said. Maria nodded yes, and turned to leave.

"Maria!"

The woman turned back around, and was surprised to see Rayne, rushing right at her. "What are you-!?"

Before she could finish her sentence, Rayne had jumped onto her, pulling her into the tightest hug she had ever received. Maria didn't know why the smaller woman was doing this, but she knew that Rayne needed to do it, for some reason or another.

The brunette pulled Maria down so that she was bent over slightly, and at Rayne's height. Still hugging her tightly, Rayne shifted so that her mouth was next to the vampiress' ear.

"I love you." She whispered, quickly adding "In a platonic sense of course." Her voice, while still but a whisper, turned even more serious. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself, alright?"

Maria was puzzled, but she whispered alright to Rayne anyways.

Rayne pulled out of their hug, and smiled that sad smile once again.

"I'm leaving now." Maria stated, smiling back at Rayne. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Rayne didn't say anything, but her eyes glinted with that unknown emotion again. Slowly, Maria realized, that it was finality.

"Go on." She said, waving Maria goodbye.

Maria turned her back on Rayne, and started her walk. As she moved farther and farther away from her friend, she wondered why Rayne had that look in her eyes, and why she hadn't said see you later as well.

She would learn why when she came back to town that night.


End file.
